Following revelations that the White House kept certain emails related to the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, from Congress, Secretary of State John Kerry has been subpoenaed to testify on his department’s handling of the situation.

The email in question – drafted by deputy national security
adviser Ben Rhodes – was sent to multiple administration
officials and advised then-United Nations ambassador Susan Rice
on how to discuss the event during her television appearances.
When Congress initially subpoenaed documents related to the
attack, which left four Americans dead, this email was not
included.

Earlier this week, it was released to the watchdog group Judicial
Watch under a Freedom of Information Act request, sparking
allegations that the administration intentionally kept it from
Congressional investigators. As noted by The Hill, Republicans
such as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham claim the email is a
“smoking gun” that shows the White House was trying to portray a
situation “at odds with the facts.”

Within the email, Rhodes said Rice should “underscore that
these protests are rooted in an internet video, and not a broader
failure of policy."

Despite initially arguing the Benghazi attack was the result of
tense regional protests related to an offensive YouTube video,
the White House later acknowledged it was a planned attack.

In the wake of the email’s publication, the House of
Representatives’ Oversight Committee issued a subpoena for Kerry
to testify on the situation on May 21. Though Kerry was not in
the State Department at the time of the attack, he was in charge
when documents were being turned over to Congress.

"The State Department's response to the congressional
investigation of the Benghazi attack has shown a disturbing
disregard for the Department's legal obligations to
Congress," committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
wrote in a letter to Kerry, according to Fox News.

"Compliance with a subpoena for documents is not a
game,” Issa added. “Because your Department is failing
to meet its legal obligations, I am issuing a new subpoena to
compel you to appear before the Committee to answer questions
about your agency's response to the congressional investigation
of the Benghazi attack."

For its part, the White House claims the reason the email was not
turned over was because it was not directly related to the
attack. Instead, The Hill reported that Press Secretary Jay
Carney said Wednesday “the email was intended to brief Rice
only on the broader unrest in the region.”

Carney also noted that the initial belief that the attacks were
part of broader protests originated from the CIA, not from the
Obama administration.

"What we have seen since hours after the attack, beginning
with a statement by the Republican nominee for president, is an
attempt by Republicans to politicize a tragedy -- and that
continues today and yesterday," Carney said, according to
the Associated Press. "The focus should be on making sure
that what happened outside of the diplomatic facilities in
Benghazi doesn’t happen again."

In a Thursday hearing on the issue, however, Issa accused the
administration of a lack of transparency, saying that leaving out
the email and other documents could potentially be a “criminal”
act.

"It is disturbing and perhaps criminal ... that documents
like these were hidden by the Obama administration from Congress
and the public alike," he said.